Friday, June 15, 2007

The dust is gathering where I stand.Now I know there's a crack in this plan.After a while there just ain't no more magic, man.I've got a needI've got to knowTell me the truthWho is running my show?Tell 'em I'm sorry but I just had to go.My patience ran outI've got to runOut of a habit that used to be fun.I just wanna breakShake it , shake it, shake it offTake off, break it offBreak, breakBreak me out of hereYou know what it's aboutNow let me outGet me outBreak...I've got no more respect for the big manPulling me down to what he understandsHe can't get his mind around no bigger plan.No one's gonna tie me to this machineGiving me formula, force-fed dreamsGet more hold on me than it seems.My patience ran outI've got to runOut of a habit that used to be funI just wanna breakShake it, shake it, shake it offTake off, break it offBreak, breakBreak me out of hereYou know what it's about.Now let me outGet me outBreak...

If you hadn't guessed, I'm taking a break from blogging and posting on other sites for the next few weeks. There's just so much going on between my 30 year high school reunion (yeah, I know, I'm THAT old) , family visiting, run events, work, getting back to serious working out and everything else. In all of the chaos I need to gain some perspective with "people situations" and promises not kept (one of my biggest pet peeves) which I have no control over. I've been conscientious about leaving negativity out of my posts, and if I don't take a break now, my posts will take a very negative turn. I don't want to go there. I like being happy.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

I thought I had it all figured out. I had plans to get myself to the gym this morning, since I didn't need to be at work today. I ended up sleeping in... I guess there's something to be said about still needing rest after a cold that KO'ed me.

Once I got up, my next door neighbor asked to borrow a few "greens cans" for his tree trimmings. Once I got outside to give him the cans, I realized what a gorgeous day it is, so I did some puttering in my hap-hazard garden that is volunteering to grow all by itself. This is what I found:

Yellow squash. Not just yellow quash, but a huge yellow squash. I was amazed that, even with neglect, some things still thrive. Such is nature, I suppose. It's not total neglect, the garden isn't as pretty as it was last year, but it's still making an effort to show me what it can do. Even the nasturtiums, zinnias, dianthus, and marigolds are doing okay. I guess there's a philosophical lesson in all of this, somewhere, but I just don't have the energy to analyze it at the moment. I'm just happy everything is growing and colorful. Maybe last year's efforts weren't in vain after all.

No gardening day would be complete without my trusty sidekick, Logan. She kept me company and chased away what ever bee happened to be near by.

Monday, June 11, 2007

The cold/flu is finally over! I guess it's really running a-muck because I keep hearing from others how they're getting over it or going through it.

My MIL wanted to have the whole family together to celebrate their 57th wedding anniversary, but the only weekend available for most of us was this past weekend. We all ended up at the Hotel Del Cornado , Friday through Sunday.

Since it was also my birthday on Saturday, hubbie sprung for a room with an ocean view!

It was very relaxing. I wished we could have been there longer, *just the two of us*, but it was still nice. For the first time in a few months, I really indulged in food and alcohol. A very good friend works as a manager there and he sent us over some wine upon our arrival and champagne for my birthday... Then there was the dinner for my in-laws AND the ginormous cake my friend sent over to the room after dinner... My husband and I took a couple of long walks on the beach and lounged around the pool, but it was no way considered workout. The pool-side Bloody-Mary's kinda changed that scenario... I plan on returning to workout mode sometimes this week, perhaps tomorrow. Eating is sorta on track but should be better by tomorrow.

It's time to change gears a little, now. It's back to more weight training and letting my legs recoup another week. My left knee is a little twingey but nothing serious. I have a 5k planned for the 4th of July and a half marathon planned for mid august.

One of the doctors I work with is planning to run in the Silver Strand Half Marathon in November, and asked if I wanted to join in. I'm intrigued but it's the same weekend my brother wants me to run with him up north. We'll see how it all pans out.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

A few people had asked me about the marathon and if I was disappointed that I didn't meet my goal of 5 hours even or less. I don't know why this question should surprise me, but it does. The first person to ask me that question was my former personal trainer. Do I look disappointed in the above picture? I'm not trying to be Ms. perky sunshine, or whatever, but I wasn't disappointed at all. I was more disappointed waking up marathon morning with the cold symptoms escalated, and disappointed that I couldn't get the Live Tracker on my phone to work. I was disappointed that my hubbie's timing chip quit working after the first 10k. The facts are that I came with in 2:47 minutes of meeting my goal and I crossed the finish line. I'm not trying to make the Olympic team or place a world record. It's just me, doing this for me, and nobody else. Ironically, time IS on my side. I still cut 11 minutes off of last year's time, and about 28 minutes off of my first marathon time. I PR'ed all of my splits. I'm progressively getting faster. Sure, I was fatigued even before I got into the higher miles, and I had several conversations in my head about "what am I doing?" The stubborn runner in me didn't want to quit for a cold, and this was the big day. I did my thing. I wasn't alone, though. At the last mile, I walked with a young lady who said she had trained to run the marathon in 4:30, had knee problems and was hobbling and trying to jog to the end. She was just happy to be at that point in the race, knowing that the finish was just around the bend. The Rock N'Roll Marathon is one big party, 26.2 miles long, sore limbs and all. I was thrilled to be at the finish line and see the clock time at 5:11, knowing that my chip time would be better. I'm always happy to receive that medal around my neck.

The couple of days after the marathon, my cold overtook any muscle soreness. There wasn't much I could do about it, but rest. A visit to the chiropractor was a tremendous relief, and a pedicure was like heaven. I'm on the mend, finally, back at work, and I'm looking forward to a 3 day weekend at the beach for my birthday on Saturday.

Monday, June 04, 2007

SaturdayWoke up still feeling like the cold was lingering on, but I felt somewhat better. Hubbie and I made our way towards downtown for lunch at Buca Di Beppo with a group Anne brought together for somewhat of a carb-load meal for those who were running. I even got to meet Dawn (Pink Chick) who posts on the Complete Running Network. It was a nice lunch and I had learned a few things about the San Diego Rock N Roll marathon that I did not know, such as only the TNT people being the only ones who could choose run a half marathon portion instead of the whole 26.2. I never knew that. After lunch Hubbie and I walked over to the expo for our timing chips, numbers and goodies. The expo seemed smaller this year, but I was able to stock up on free Soy Joy bars, found a booth for runningskirts.com and purchased a running skirt, and renewed my subscription to Her Sport + Fitness magazine. We found our friend Sam there and we walked around with him a bit, then called it a day and went home to finish carb loading and get our running clothes ready for the next day.SundayWe woke up early to June gloom weather, ate a light breakfast, etc... Our son drove us to the marathon start site. We drove into the event a back way so we could avoid being caught up in the traffic, and arrived with more than an hour until the start. My head is feeling detached from my body, as my cold feels like it's not going away. While waiting in line at the port-o-potty, I was trying to get my cell phone to hook up to the live tracking feed, but nothing I did worked. I tried to call the guy who runs it but I only got his voice mail. I spent the whole time before the marathon trying to get the damn thing turned on. I went into everything I could possibly think of, but nothing worked. Right before the race started I just decided to do the regular tracking. Right as we're passing through the official start line, the guy from the Live Tracking finally calls back, but I can't hear him because there's the speakers, and bands, and noise of the runners, etc. He was trying to help me start my tracker, I couldn't hear him at all. I just told him to wish me well and we'd figure it out later. Oh well. I tried to get the live tracker to work during my run, but it was getting to be annoying, and I wasn't enjoying my run, so I decided to not use it at all. My head was still feeling detached from my body because of the cold, and I was already feeling fatigued at mile 6. I had to keep telling myself to keep going. If I were running by myself, as in a training run, I would have quit, but since this was the big event I stuck with it. It did help that I was running with a whole bunch of people.

There was a couple who I kept seeing through out the race. Every time I passed them, the lady would say, "There she is, we need to get going!" I guess they were using me as their point of reference. They would always pass me by. I lost track of them at the last few miles. I don't know if they went ahead or if they fell back.

My friend Rich found me around mile 19 and got some pictures. It was nice to see a familiar face on this long run!

I did much better with the water and electrolytes this year. It didn't prevent calf cramps, but I still was able to keep going. After about mile 20 I was overly fatigued. It was also at that time the clouds cleared up and the sun came through. At mile 21 I was way ahead of where I thought I would be but the cold and exhaustion really set in. It was a struggle to keep going. I wasn't able to run the entire last mile at all. As I made my way into MCRD, there was a band playing "Fight For Your Right To Party." That song is still stuck in my head. I walked and ran that last mile, and once the clock was in view I ran in. The clock time above my head was 5:11. Chip time is always better than that, so I knew I was close to my 5 hour goal. Finishing is a joy. It always is. I was given some water, an ice cold towel, and my medal, I met a woman who just finished her first marathon and was extremely excited. She must have finished right behind me. We chatted while waiting in line to have our pictures taken. It turns out she is also from San Diego and running in similar events. I hope to see her again at other runs. Once I loaded up on bananas, electrolyte drinks, Spenco rubber slippers etc, I made my way out to the meeting area to find my friend Rich. We found a shady spot under a tree, he helped me stretch out. He used to be my personal trainer several years ago, so he knows what he's doing. Ouch. I must say the stretching did help. I also switched out of my race shoes and put on a pair of old, dry running shoes ~ My race shoes were wet and sticky. Rich had to leave, so I sat around and waited for my hubbie to find me. He was about an hour behind me and he eventually hobbled over to where I was. It turns out our son was there waiting for us to take us home, and we did find him, eventually. We never did find our friend Sam, and I kept looking for Dawn, but there were just so many people.

We made it home, had cold showers, and thought we might make it to the Seal concert, but I was feeling the cold come back on with a vengeance. We opted not to go to the show. Hubbie was going to take one of our kids but they were down for the evening as well.

Hubbie's results were never posted. We don't know what went wrong, but I have a feeling that it was because he put the timing chip on the same shoe as his Road ID. I've heard that the Road ID can interfere with the chip. I even told him to not put the chip on the same shoe as the ID. Oh well. He finished, we're guessing, In something like 6:00 - 6:10? We don't know his exact time for sure. He finished and he has the medal and sore muscles to prove it.

TodayThe cold has officially taken over. I'm just going with it and let it run it's course. My calves are sore but I'm walking, however slowly. I'm glad I took today off from work. Hubbie went into work today, wearing his medal. They take bets at his office to see if he'll actually show up. Heh.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

I knocked about 11 minutes off of last years time! I PRed all of my marathon splits, and I was still feeling sick! I'll write more later, I need an icy cold shower! Thanks, everyone for being so supportive! It was a great day!

Friday, June 01, 2007

It's just a couple of days until the marathon. I'm fighting off a cold. Grrrr. I've been drinking water, Airborne, using Zicam nose stuff, and taking it easy. I'm hoping to knock this cold out before Sunday.

If anyone is interested, the Bones in Motion Live Tracker will be up and running for the marathon, Sunday June 3, 2007. If you log on to their San Diego Rock N Roll marathon tracker site, you can follow along. It's probably just as much fun as watching paint dry, but at least you can see where I am between around the hours of 6:30 AM and 11:30 am Pacific Standard Time. Just make sure "Eyeballrene" is checked. You can follow the other guy, John L, too. He'll probably be much faster. It's a shame the BiM people didn't promomte this marathon for their wireless run tracker because this is a huge event. 20,000 people participate, not to mention all the people who come out to cheer on the runners. They don't even have a posse attending the marathon expo.

Guess what??? It's time for the list of winners for

"NAME THAT ARTIST /BAND/COMPOSER/MUSICIAN/ETC."

For those of you who haven't played yet, it's pretty simple. I title my blog posts with song titles. Be the first to correctly guess who recorded/performed the song, post your answer under "comments," and if you are correct, the glory is yours.

True

"I bought a ticket to the world, but now I've come back again"

-Spandau Ballet

Currently Listening To:

Sunday Hustle

Original Artwork

By Evan

Followers

Song Title Game

In case you haven't noticed, I title my blog posts with song titles. Be the first one to guess the artist who performs the song and the glory is yours, plus I'll give you a mention at the end of the next blog post.